The Porn Industry's Surprisingly Responsible Reaction to James Deen

Regardless of your feelings on porn, you've likely heard of the rape allegations that have unseated James Deen as porn's beloved boy next door. While the story at first sounds like any number of high-profile rape allegations that have been in the news of late (powerful industry leader plus women who feared a loss of professional standing if they came forward), the porn industry's response has been swift, remarkable, and unusual. It, perhaps surprisingly, has set something of a gold standard.

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Frustrated by the apparent exalting of Deen as pornography's feminist hero, porn actress, director, and writer Stoya disrupted that narrative: She accused her frequent costar and former boyfriend Deen of raping her.

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Hours later, Deen's ex-girlfriend Joanna Angel tweeted her support to Stoya (she's since characterized their relationship as violent and abusive). While Deen responded on Twitter, calling the claims "both false and defamatory," five otherwomenhave come forwardwith stories of assaults. The accounts are violent and graphic, and paint similar pictures of an abuser using his power to exert control over people sexually. Notably, multiple assaults allegedly occurred either on porn sets or in front of other industry people, and no one intervened. Perhaps this speaks to Deen's prestige in the field—he's won numerous awards for his work, including an AVN award for Mainstream Star of the Year in 2015 (the AVN awards are the porn version of the Oscars). His wide-reaching appeal (he even starred opposite Lindsay Lohan in 2013's The Canyons) and apparent serial abuse led The Daily Beastto call him the Bill Cosby of porn.

Certainly, a powerful man abusing his power sexually—and taking advantage of his position as a beloved idol—isn't new, but the parallel between Cosby and Deen ends there. Consider how long it took Cosby to finally lose his place as a Hollywood hero, despite years of allegations. Cosby was not dropped by his agency, CAA, until 2014. At the height of the controversy, he did stand-up for sold-out audiences. As of 2015, despite the emergence of more than 50 women with horrific stories of abuse, Cosby still holds honorary degrees from multiple universities.

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Indeed, you can't really compare the strong reaction to Deen to any of the sluggish and generally nonchalant reactions we've seen recently when powerful men have been accused of sexually abusing women. Former American Apparel CEO Dov Charney allegedly assaulted or harassed multiple female employees, masturbated in front of a journalist, and remained in charge of the company until 2014. Photographer Terry Richardson, who has been repeatedlyaccused of assaulting young models, continues to book high-profile jobs. We tend to be especially forgiving of pop culture celebrities—Mike Tyson is a convicted rapist; Rick James tortured and sexually abused a woman for three days. What about Julian Assange? Charlie Sheen? Bill Murray? R. Kelly? I could blow through my entire word count and barely scratch the surface on men who we've made idols by ignoring reality.

But the James Deen story has a critically different narrative: The porn industry didn't turn a blind eye—in fact, the opposite happened. Industry leaders have been quick to distance themselves from Deen or to cut ties completely. Kink.com, a prominent producer of BDSM content, severed all ties this week. (Deen appeared frequently in Kink.com productions.) Deen starred in almost 100 films distributed by Evil Angel, which also put a stop to selling any new scenes featuring Deen, at least temporarily. Sex toy manufacturer Doc Johnson has removed his product from their website, and has ended production entirely. Erotic online comic Oh Joy Sex Toy removed ads and affiliate links to his site.

And the consumers have spoken: Stoya's company TrenchcoatX continues to supply content featuring Deen at Stoya's discretion (explained in a blog post by Stoya's business partner, Kayden Kross), and a video with Deen was prescheduled and released at the same time as Stoya's accusations. According to Kross, it has been one of the "worst performing updates since [the company] launched."

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Beyond the porn industry, Deen was held accountable for the allegations as well. Frisky editor-in-chief Amelia McDonell-Parry announced almost immediately after the allegations emerged that she was ending Deen's sex column and refused to give a rapist a platform. "No amount of good rapport between us or traffic to his columns would EVER supersede the fact that I BELIEVE WOMEN," she wrote in a post on the site.

It's hard to imagine a world in which this would be the standard—where an imbalance of power doesn't push survivors into silence while we continue to admire and respect rapists. Or where a rape victim is able to report that he or she was victimized by the captain of the football team without facing retribution, or being forced to sit in class or live in the same dorm as him. Where the reputation of—let's face it—men isn't put above the survival and care of the abused. Where hero worship doesn't make someone above reproach.

The porn industry's swift and decisive action toward Deen comes as a surprise to people who don't exactly associate porn with a positive treatment of women.

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The porn industry's swift and decisive action toward Deen comes as a surprise to people who don't exactly associate porn with the positive treatment of women. Even the notion of so-called feminist porn can be hard to deal with if you fundamentally believe that porn objectifies women in a way that it does not objectify men. And to a porn outsider, the industry simply doesn't seem safe for women, who are frequently duped or exploited in amateur porn, and Deen's on-set assaults are hardly the first time women have been raped or assaulted on set. (It's worth mentioning that many prominent porn stars would disagree with this characterization.)

Given all this, it's hard to say why porn has led the way—perhaps it's because porn is one of the few industries in which women are able to out-earn men. Perhaps with a more complex power balance—one that doesn't so plainly give men control at all times—the structures that silence victims and exalt aggressors doesn't exist in the same way. (This is not to downplay the bravery it took for Stoya to speak out; indeed, some people ignorant of the definition of rape doubted Stoya's story, pointing out that the two had dated. And Deen's other accusers report a fear of coming forward specifically because Deen was so adored.) Or perhaps it's that porn companies are rightly taking a strong stand for consent—in cutting ties with Deen, both Kink.com and Evil Angel cited that consent is the cornerstone of their work, and clarified that consent is always paramount, even in simulated rape or rough scenes.

But regardless of the reasons, in this one respect, the oft-maligned porn industry should be commended and followed. The industry has recognized that false claims of rape or assault are extremely rare, and that the tired narrative of women conspiring to bring down a male hero exists primarily in the imaginations of men who frequent MRA message boards and not in reality.

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It would appear that the porn industry has taken the most progressive and frankly commonsense stance on rape allegations of any industry before it: Its leaders are listening to rape victims and acting with their best interests in mind. This is what it looks like when an industry values a maybe uncomfortable truth over its heroes. This is what happens when an industry looks to the greater good. More industries need to do this. Looking at you, Hollywood.

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